Teen Comedy Films

Brett

The beginning of Teen Films

• The 1950’s in America was where the teen film genre began to come about. One of the first films of the genre was ‘The Wild One’ (1953) this was a film showing a rebellion which is the theme of most contemporary teenage comedies. This film was very controversial and was banned in the UK for 14 years.

Teen films of 1950’s

• Another pivotal film for teen film genre was ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ (1995) starring James Dean. This was one of the first teen film which was solely for a teenage audience, it focused on teenage romance and rebelling against parents. These conventions are still about, as portrayed in Superbad.

The Evolution of teen films in 1960s

• With the evolution of the Hippie movement in America in the 1960’s, there was an emphasise on freedom, sex, love and partying. The Hippie movement contributed to an increase in teen films however unlike today they were often censored on what they could show unlike today, where nudity and crude humour is common. Teen comedy films of the 1960s include ‘how to stuff a wild bikini’ (1965) which was a teen film about romance and rebellions. Another film was ‘Gidget Goes to Rome’ (1963) which was about a teenage surfer girl. A pivotal film of the 1960’s was ‘Beach Party’ this focused on what many modern films focus on; romance and having fun’

Teen films 1970’s

• Many spin off genres of teen comedy begin to surface – teen horrors (Carrie) teen musicals (Grease)

1980’s

• This was the ‘Golden Age’ of teen comedies, the evolution continued and now were focusing on parents being clueless about there teenagers with films such as ‘Girls want to have fun’ and ‘The Breakfast Club’

1990’s

• The iconic teenage film is American Pie, this focused on many issues regarding a ‘typical’ teenager – for example; moving to university, romance, drinking, partying. The pilot American Pie was the starter of an 8 film franchise that focuses on all forms of teenage life. The budget for the 8 films was $146million and has made $980million

2000’S

• There has been a massive influx in the amount of teen films in the 2000’s with films like Superbad and Mean Girls

Conventions of a teen films• There are many conventions that are followed in the making of films;

proms, alcohol, high school, parties, all night raves, loosing virginity, relationships, social groups and mainly focus on American-pop culture. They use stereotypes throughout there films with groups such as jock/popular, nerd, outcasts, loner and the popular girl.

• The films are commonly set in American High Schools (which allow for cliques to be portrayed)